Ira Frederick Aldridge was an American and later British stage actor and playwright who made his career after 1824, largely in London and in Europe and is most famous for his Shakespearean roles. Born in New York City, Aldridge went to the African Free School in New York City at aged 13. The school was established by the New York Manumission Society for the children of free Black people and slaves. They were given a classical
The Best Start peer support project offers a six week course to support expectant parents and the parents or carers of children under 2 years. To help us evaluate the course and to keep improving it, we always ask participants for their feedback. Here are some recent comments: What did you think of the course content? It taught me so much about myself and my emotional wellbeing. The subjects were
The Leeds carnival is an amazing celebration which incorporates all three essential elements of authentic West Indian carnival: costumes, music and masquerade procession. It is one of the longest running West Indian Carnivals in Europe and began in 1967, therefore, marking the milestone 50th anniversary in 2017. On this special occasion, the carnival exceeded the expectations of the public, and the crowds of people gathered. It brought an explosion of
I commenced my secondment with Touchstone at the beginning of July for a period of three months. It was an opportunity to explore different ways of working and to form better links between Touchstone Community Support Team (CST) and the Community Mental Health Team (CMHT). On my first day the Chief Executive, Alison, came and welcomed me to Touchstone and I met with Operations Director, Jim. I had met most
Would you like to do something to mark World Mindfulness Day or are you are curious what mindfulness is all about? Mindfulness is a fairly simple idea about how we direct our focus of attention, but like many things that may sound simple, it can be a little tricky to actually do! The basic principles of mindfulness are about: Paying attention to the present moment On purpose Without judgement For
World Suicide Prevention Day – 10th September 2017 “Take a minute, change a life” Every year, nearly 1 million people die by suicide and up to 20 times as many make a suicide attempt. Behind these statistics are the individual stories of those who have, for many different reasons, questioned the value of their own lives. Each one of these individuals is part of a community. Some may be well
10th September is World Suicide Prevention Day. According to the Alliance of Suicide Prevention Charities (TASC), suicide is the greatest cause of death amongst young men (15-44) in the UK as well as many young women too. Every four minutes someone in the UK tries to kill themselves and every hour and a half someone succeeds.Research from the Office of National Statistics that was published in 2016, shows women’s suicide has
This is our FIRST blog post, WOW! It genuinely feels a pleasure to be able to talk about what we are, what we do and who we are here to help. The Café opened late last year (October 2016) and has slowly built up a head of steam, with the number of visitors we have received so far increasing slowly and surely, being more busy as we go. We are
Advocacy is all about helping people who use services to speak up, to be heard and to have influence – in other words to be involved in their own lives and in anything that impacts on their lives. Touchstone’s Kirklees Advocacy Service was designed from the ground up to achieve that. Here’s some of the ways that the service helped people to get more involved during 2016-2017 1. Involvement in
New Wortley Community Association (NWCA) has been successful in securing a grant to develop an exciting Community Led Housing project in West Leeds. This is a positive boost for the local community and builds upon the success of a number of other initiatives which NWCA already have up and running in the area. This local charity has major ambitions to improve the quality of life of residents of New Wortley.